Summary

Summary
Action
More Information
| How it spreads |
|
|---|---|
| Affected operating systems | Windows |
| Characteristics |
|
| Protection available since | 18 February 2005 14:57:18 (GMT) |
| Detected by | All Sophos products |
- Free virus, spyware, and adware scan
- Test your existing anti-virus protection
- Find threats your anti-virus missed
Action

Summary
Action
More Information
Please follow the instructions for removing worms.
Please contact technical support.
More Information
W32/Assiral-A is a mass mailing worm which attempts to spread itself by sending emails with the following characteristics to addresses found in the victim's address book:
Subject: Re: LOV YA!
Body: Kindly read and reply to my LOVE LETTER in the attachments :-)
Attachment: LOVE_LETTER.TXT.exe
![]() |
| A typical email sent by the W32/Assiral-A worm. |
W32/Assiral-A will attempt to copy itself to floppy drives and network shares.
On opening the attachment, W32/Assiral-A will open a web page through Internet Explorer at geocities.com. W32/Assiral-A will attempt to modify Internet Explorer's homepage to the same page.
It will also attempt to kill off various security related applications and disable various capabilities of Windows. W32/Assiral-A is a mass mailing worm which attempts to spread itself by sending emails with the following characteristics to addresses found in the victim's address book:
Subject: Re: LOV YA!
Body: Kindly read and reply to my LOVE LETTER in the attachments :-)
Attachment: LOVE_LETTER.TXT.exe
![]() |
| A typical email sent by the W32/Assiral-A worm. |
W32/Assiral-A will drop the following files into the system:
C:\message.txt
%Windows%\SpoolMgr.exe
%Windows%\love_letter.txt.exe
%System32%\MS_LARISSA.exe
C:\windows\winvbs_32.vbs
C:\windows\system32\reg_32.vbs
C:\larissa_anti_bropia.html
![]() |
| A message dropped by the W32/Assiral-A worm. |
The worm will attempt to autostart itself with the following registry entries:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\
MS_LARISSA = %system32%\MS_LARISSA.exe
HKLM\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run
spoolsv manager = %windows%\SpoolMgr.exe
And set the following registry entries:
HKCR\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\policies\system\
noadminpage = 1
HKCR\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\policies\explorer\
dword:03ffffff
HKCR\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\policies\system\
disableregistrytools = 1
HKCR\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\policies\explorer\
norun = 1
HKCR\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\policies\winoldapp\
disabled = 1
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\WAB\
Contacts = <number of contact in outlook address book>
which will disable various administration functions in Windows.
W32/Assiral-A may periodically create a pop-up window to display the contents of C:\larissa_anti_bropia.html.


